Previously: James is forced to interrupt Lily's reunion with her family, so he can have a chance to ask Mr. Evans for help procuring the final ingredient of the Animagus potion. Mr. Evans makes no attempt to make James less nervous when he asks to talk to him. Only after James admits why he needs the chrysalis does Mr. Evans agree to get him what he needs, on one condition: when Lily finally faces the danger that Mr. Evans can tell is stirring in the Wizarding world, James will protect her.


Chapter 56: The Seer

Lily sighed as she lounged with her head in Terry's lap, who stroked her hair absentmindedly with one hand and finished his Potions essay with the other free hand. They would be leaving for Hogsmeade soon, but since Mary had already claimed her and Alice – she said this was her Christmas present – Lily and Terry were stealing what precious free moments they could in the meantime. At first, Lily had been doubtful that they would be able to find a good place to snuggle, but Terry had managed to pull through: locating an empty classroom, he snuck some food from the kitchens, a couple of spare blankets from the laundry, and the pillows from his bed to create a surprisingly comfortable nook. With a quick wave of the wand, he effortlessly conjured a fire in the empty fireplace.

There was so much to talk about – but Lily was stuck.

She wanted to talk to Terry – about how her father tried to convince her that he was beating his cancer (Lily wanted to believe him, but there was something in his smile that just was not convincing enough); about how Petunia had refused to spend Christmas with her family, instead opting to spend it with her new boyfriend, Vernon; about how she had spent the entire break desperately searching the news for any sign that might indicate was Voldemort was doing.

She wanted to talk about those things, but for some reason, whenever Lily opened her mouth, the words vanished from her tongue – so instead, she simply let Terry talk.

"… and I've never seen anybody happier – the moment that Hannah saw those Holyhead Harpies Quidditch robes, her face just lit up. And I'm talking the full set of robes too – not just a jersey. It took my mum a little bit of finagling to get the robes to fit her just right, but eventually, she got it – Hannah spent the rest of the day in those robes. If my mum hadn't forced her into her pajamas that night – I think she might've slept in them."

Lily had been able to meet Terry's little sister, Hannah, very briefly at the end of break, right before the train took them back to Hogwarts. It had been impossible not to smile at the little bundle of joy, and Lily figured that she must have made a good first impression because Terry had told her that Hannah was already asking when she could meet Lily again.

"… Anyways, Hannah won't shut up about how she'll make the Quidditch team in her second year and will be Captain by fourth."

"Big expectations for a ten-year-old," said Lily with a grin.

Terry shrugged before adding, "Yeah, well – she's determined, that's for sure. If all it took was passion to make the Quidditch teams here, she'd probably make it her first year – what about you? You said you had a sister, right?"

"Petunia," confirmed Lily with a nod. She kept her gaze fixed on the ceiling as she spoke: "She wasn't home for Christmas this year – 'Going to Vernon's place', she had told my parents. I haven't met him yet myself, but I know my dad doesn't like him – he's only keeping quiet for Petunia's sake."

"Ah … that's always the trickiest part, isn't it? Impressing the parents."

"I suppose it is …" muttered Lily, still staring at the ceiling.

They were silent for some time after that, and it was only when Terry looked at his watch and said, "Carriages leave in twenty minutes, Lily – won't your friends be waiting for you?" that the spell was broken.

Lily sighed again and slowly rose to her feet.

"Remind me again – why did I agree to this?"

"Beats me," said Terry with a shrug, "You mentioned 'Mary's whims' or something like that?"

"Mary," groaned Lily, "She won't tell me or Alice what she has planned – all she said was that she got the idea when talking to Professor Gammon after class one time. Marlene's not coming, though – as soon as she heard the word 'Divination', she bolted. You see, Marlene's not really into the whole 'seeing the future' thing – thinks it's a fat load of hogwash. Mary, on the other hand, loves that kind of stuff – other than Herbology, it's one of her best classes."

"Well, if it makes any difference – I also happen to think it's a fat load of hogwash," said Terry, leaning down for a quick kiss goodbye.

"I know," said Lily, giving him a peck on the lips, "But she's my friend, and I agreed to do this – see you later?"

"See you later," said Terry.

With one last smile, Lily turned and quickly hurried up to the common room – thankfully, Terry had chosen an empty classroom not far from the Gryffindor tower, so it did not take Lily long before she reached the seventh-floor corridor. However, between her and the portrait of the Fat Lady was a group of four boys, one of whom had very familiar messy, black hair – Lily quickly pushed all thoughts of Mary and her whims from her mind as she jogged to catch the boys.

"Potter!"

The boy in question quickly turned around, a hopeful expression on his face. When he saw that it was Lily approaching him, however, his smile was quickly replaced a grim frown.

"Can I speak with you, please – alone," asked Lily as she slowed to a stop in front of him. She made a conscious effort to ensure that her voice left no room for argument.

Potter sighed and turned back to face his three friends, all of whom had also stopped and were waiting for him to take the lead. With a final nod and assurance of, "I'll be up in a minute," he waved them away – Lily did her best to ignore the glare that Black sent her way. Only after they disappeared past the portrait of the Fat Lady did Potter finally turn back around to face her. From his expression, Lily could tell that he was not looking forward to this conversation.

Good, Lily could not help but think.

"Do you care to tell me why you thought it was a good idea to talk to my father on the train platform?" she demanded, hands on her hips.

"Look, Evans …" said Potter, nervously ruffling his hair, "I'm sorry that I did that – it was a stupid idea …"

"You couldn't have realized that before you interrupted me and my family? I hadn't seen them in months! Besides, why was it so important that you talk to him anyways?"

"He didn't … he didn't tell you, did he?" asked Potter. He seemed to be unwilling to meet Lily's eyes, instead choosing to stare at a spot on the floor some two feet behind her.

"No … all he said was that you two 'chatted' …" said Lily, and for the first time since speaking with Potter, she was unsure of herself.

"Good … good – that's good …"

"No, it is not good, Potter!" snapped Lily, suddenly angry again. "I don't know what I have to do to get it through that thick skull of yours, but you had no right to interrupt my reunion with my family – without even giving me a reason! The very least you could do is tell me why you did it – please?"

"I … I can't tell you, Evans – I'm sorry, but I can't …" said Potter, still refusing to meet her questioning. "It's a Mara–"

"Do not 'Marauder's secret' me, James Potter – why? We are not friends, we're not dating, we don't have any projects that we have to work on together – so why would you do something like that? It was embarrassing!"

For the first time since their argument – well, argument on Lily's part, at least – Potter finally looked her in the eye, but there was no mischievous twinkle there. Without it, his face was unreadable, and while Lily tried to detect something – anything – that might hint at his thoughts, she kept coming up blank. The only emotion that she could spot was uneasiness.

"I-I thought that … y'know, maybe – since we had been getting along so well – I wanted to … I dunno, meet your parents?"

"You wanted – are you serious? – you wanted to meet my parents? Potter – what the bloody hell is wrong with you?" said Lily, aghast.

"I know! I know! It was stupid – I'm sorry, Evans – I can make it up to you. Let me take you –"

"Potter, if you finish that sentence with 'to Hogsmeade' – so help me, Merlin – I will take your book bag and shove it so far up your ass that you'll be vomiting test answers for weeks," threatened Lily, and when Potter only stared at his feet guiltily, she threw her hands up in disbelief.

"You – are – unbelievable! Don't ever pull a stunt like that again!" said Lily, pushing past him towards the common room. Behind her, Potter was yelling something to her, but she coolly ignored him.

"Gobbledygook," she muttered angrily as she approached the Fat Lady.

"You might want to try it sometime," the Fat Lady responded.

Lily ignored her too.

~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1975 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~

"It's official – Lily hates me," announced James as he entered the dormitory and slammed the door shut.

All of his friends had been in the process of pulling on their outerwear to ready themselves for the inevitably cold trip to Hogsmeade, but at James's entrance, all three of them paused and glanced up – James hated that each one had varying amounts of pity in their faces, and he tried his best to ignore it as he quickly made his way over to his four-poster bed, which was when he noticed the package sitting on his bed.

"It just came – I think the sender was trying to avoid drawing any attention when in the Great Hall," explained Remus with a pointed look, who was in the middle of wrapping his scarf around his neck.

James simply nodded before carefully lifting the package. Roughly the size of a tomato crate, it was much lighter than James expected. He picked it up and held it close to his ear, but there was no sound coming from the inside of it. Before unwrapping the brown paper from the box, James instead chose to first unfold the letter, which was written on whatever the Muggle equivalent of parchment was. It was much whiter and flimsier than he was used to.

Enclosed, you will find all you need. I've provided you several that should keep reproducing. Give a diet of plants for the young and honey for the adults. When ready, extract what you need from the dirt. Release anything extra into the forest. If needed, owl me for a refill.

I will hold you to your promise.

There was no signature, but James did not need one to know who had written it. With a faint smile, he quickly folded up the letter and placed it on his nightstand before turning to the package. He carefully pulled the paper to reveal a clear, plastic box that contained a layer of dirt at the bottom, a pile of leaves, a dish of honey, and a handful of fat caterpillars – more specifically, the caterpillars of the Death's-head Hawk Moth.

~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 1975 ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~

Lily wrapped her cloak more tightly around herself and buried her face in her thick scarf as she leaned forward to brace herself against the unforgiving winds. Beside her, both Mary and Alice were shivering and not faring much better than Lily was. The only exposed skin on any of the girls was that which was around their eyes – everything else was bundled up under layers of clothing to protect from the biting cold.

"Remind me again – why are we doing this?" yelled Lily, fighting to make herself heard as they shuffled down the snowy street.

"Because she owes Professor Gammon a favor or two, and since Gammon knows how much I love this kind of stuff, Gammon decided to call in one of those favors so that I could meet her," explained Mary, practically bouncing on her feet. The freezing cold had done nothing to dampen her spirits, although it was quickly chipping away at both Lily's and Alice's.

"But who is she?" Alice yelled back. "You haven't yet told us who we're supposed to be seeing."

"You'll see, you'll see – we're almost there," chirped back Mary happily in a sing-sing voice.

Alice glanced at Lily and rolled her eyes. Lily knew that she and Alice were thinking the same thing – that they should have stayed behind with Marlene at the Three Broomsticks, where their friend was no doubt enjoying the warmth and flirting shamelessly with at least a dozen boys. Thankfully, Mary was too excited to notice the lack of enthusiasm of her two companions.

As they shuffled farther and farther away from the central hub of Hogsmeade, the cheery shops and charming cottages with hundreds of students happily milling about soon gave way to the less popular area of the village, where the houses resembled those in Lily's hometown of Cokeworth more than the ones directly adjacent to Honeydukes. They were by no means miserable or rundown, but gone was the area that Lily typically associated with Hogsmeade – instead, it was clearly the place where the residents retreated to in order to avoid the crowds of students. Almost nobody was around now, save for the occasional figure bundled in a thick cloak who moved from house to house.

"Here we are – the home of the one and only Cassandra Trelawney," announced Mary, finally stopping in front of a tiny hut.

The home looked no different from the others on the street, save for the fact that it was a little smaller and was accompanied by the strong smell of cats. A faint trickle of smoke rose from the chimney on the roof, and a single candle flickered in the window right next to the door. Other than the candle, the only other sign of life that Lily noticed was the flutter of far curtain accompanied by the brief flick of a cat's tail. Mary was staring at the house with an equal mix of wonder and happiness on her expression, but when Lily caught Alice's eye again, she could tell that they were both equally confused.

"Who's Cassandra Trelawney?" asked Alice.

"Only one of the most celebrated Seers in the past couple of centuries," answered Mary, still staring at the house with awe.

"I suppose we should knock," said Lily finally. She felt a flicker of annoyance that Mary had dragged her and Alice from the wonders of Zonko's and Honeydukes for a Seer.

Plucking up her Gryffindor courage, Lily led the way to the door. Both Mary and Alice followed, but while Mary was still overcome with amazement as she trailed Lily dreamily, Alice sulked behind her two friends. The steps creaked, and Mary momentarily slipped on the ice as they cautiously approached the door, but thankfully, Alice was able to snap out of it just in time to catch Mary under her arms before any damage could be done.

Lily took a deep breath and raised a fist – but before she could knock, the door swung open and revealed a frail, little woman. Musty, smelly shawls cocooned her, and the smell of cats only intensified when the door opened. At least a dozen scarves and hats exposed the few wisps of white hair remaining on the shriveled coconut of a head. Lily took a step back as the old lady peered up at her with protruding eyes a shade darker than her hair, and Alice quickly covered her yelp of surprise with a convincing enough coughing fit.

"Ah … yes – I wondered when I would be seeing you, Ms. Evans – and your friends, of course: Ms. Prewett and Ms. Macdonald," said Trelawney with a mystical smile as she nodded at Mary, who was gawking, and at Alice, who was frozen. "Come, come – let us get out of this dreadful cold so that we can talk."

Trelawney quickly ushered the girls into the tiny house, and as she crossed the threshold, Lily very nearly plugged her nose to ward off the cat smell, and at their entrance, several of the creatures in question quickly approached the visitors, circling their feet and purring in content as they rubbed themselves against their legs.

While the interior was much more different from the outside, it was more what Lily expected of somebody like Trelawney. An enormous fire crackled in the corner, providing instant relief to Lily's frozen hands and nose. A squashy armchair sat in front of the hearth with a rickety table to the side and a single crystal ball. A mismatched sofa sat just feet from the armchair covered in quilts and fluffy pillows. Each room boasted a new host of cats, and Lily wondered how many the old lady owned – the cost of cat food alone must have been astronomical.

"Sit, sit," said Trelawney as she seated herself in the armchair. "It's been so long since I've had visitors – nobody can spend time for old Cassandra anymore. No time for family anymore with all the young ones hustling and bustling about."

Lily felt a pang of sympathy for the lonely woman as she, Mary, and Alice seated themselves on the sofa. As expected, at least four different cats joined them the second they sat down. Trelawney studied them carefully.

"What is it that you wish to ask me, dear?" asked Trelawney. She had directed her question to Mary. "I sense that you have –"

"Ma'am, is Sybil Trelawney related to you in anyway?" Alice blurted out. She pointedly ignored the glare that Mary threw her way.

Lily quickly worked to put a face to the name – Sybil Trelawney was the name of a mysterious Ravenclaw girl several years above them. Lily had spotted her whispering to Gammon several times before Lily and Mary's class had started. Divination was clearly her favorite subject, but Lily had never liked her much – the air of superiority that Sybil exuded was gag-inducing.

"Dear Sybil …" clucked the old woman, "She does indeed attend Hogwarts, though she has not unlocked the Gift yet. Tea?"

Trelawney suddenly offered them a tray dotted with a piping hot teapot that was clearly from the 1800's and matching teacups. While Alice blatantly refused – Lily could tell that she was starting to get freaked out by Trelawney and was deeply regretting coming – Lily and Mary gratefully accepted two of the cups. With a wave of her wand, the tea soared out of the teapot and into their cups, where Lily could feel the heat of the scorching tea counteract her still-stiff fingers. Beside her, Mary gently blew on her tea to cool it down while still keeping her eyes fixed on Trelawney.

"Ms. Trelawney, I was hoping to ask –" started Mary, but she did not get far because just then, Trelawney held up her hand to silence her.

"Give me your palm, dear," said Trelawney, and her voice suddenly took a much more mystical tone.

Although she was clearly startled, Mary nevertheless set aside her teacup and extended a shaking hand to Trelawney. Lily could not be sure if she was more nervous or excited – Lily herself was very nervous while Alice looked positively terrified.

Trelawney's wrinkly hands – the woman had to be older than even Dumbledore – enveloped Mary's pudgy fingers, and she opened them one by one, smoothing out each finger as well as she could. As Trelawney's fragile fingers traced the lines of her palm, the Seer's eyes grew unfocused and glazed over. Mary watched her, completely enraptured.

"I sense … you have not yet reached your full potential, Mary Macdonald. There is something holding you back – but eventually, fate will force you to play your hand – oh …" Here, Trelawney gave a great, shuddering gasp, and her eyes clouded over. "First to rise, first to fall."

Mary gasped in shock, though her palm was still in Trelawney's grasp, pulling the old woman from her stupor – the admiration had not disappeared from her expression completely, but it was now tainted with obvious fear. Lily noticed that Alice was doing her best to dismiss Trelawney's prediction with a very impressive eyeroll, but her friend's face was just as white as Mary's.

"And you, my dear …" Trelawney released Mary's hand so that she could seize Lily's. "I see hardship – so much hardship … And death – there is nothing but death and pain in your future, but whether they are your own, I cannot say. But wait … I see a glimmer of hope in the war to come – and you, Lily Evans – you will play the most important part of all. No, not in life, but death. Your son … I think I see your son … yes, it's your sonhe is the hope. But it is your sacrifice that will decide his fate in the war to come."

Lily jerked her hand back from Trelawney in revulsion – she shot a glare at Mary, who was too busy staring at Trelawney to notice – but Trelawney simply reached for the last of their group, Alice.

However, Lily's friend would have nothing to do with Trelawney. When the Seer reached out for her palm, Alice retreated as far back into the couch as possible, her legs and arms scrunched up as close to her body as possible. But that did not dissuade Trelawney because the elderly witch simply stood up and shuffled closer to Alice – by this time, her gaze was completely white, and Lily doubted that she could see just who she was talking to. Alice put up a good fight, but eventually, she could sink no further into the couch, so she simply resigned herself to fate and sat frozen in her spot.

But just as Trelawney reached forward to place her hand against Alice's cheek, the lady shrieked like a banshee and caused all three girls to jump violently in surprise. Trelawney did not notice – she was too busy clutching her head in her hands, as if she was suffering from the worst migraine.

"No, no, no, you sweet child … such a terrible, terrible fate …"

"What is it? What did you see? Did Alice die?" Mary leaned forward as she shot her questions at Trelawney in a rapid-fire way that Lily was not used to seeing, but the old woman ignored her. Instead, she continued to cradle her head in her hands as she lamented about whatever she had seen. By now, whatever nonchalance Alice had been hoping to put off had vanished – her face was as white as the snow outside.

Finally, Trelawney lifted her head up so that she could look at Alice. Her eyes were no longer clouded over – they were wide and filled with tears.

"It is a fate worse than death, worse than death … I'm so sorry, my dear – but I fear that I see something I have never seen in anybody else's future. There's … there's a darkness there, and in that darkness, I see a dark void. You will live, yes – you will find happiness for a time, but I fear that it will not last."

Alice was starting to shake, and all the blood had drained from her face as she stared up at Trelawney, her blue eyes wide with horror. She opened her mouth to try to say something, but no sound came out – which was when Lily decided to put a stop to this.

She stood up so suddenly that both Mary and Trelawney jumped, as if they had not realized that she was still in the room (Alice was still frozen in shock).

"Thank you so much for the tea, Ms. Trelawney – but we really should be going now. Marlene will be wondering where we are," said Lily loudly.

After practically slamming her teacup down on the coffee table, she seized both Mary and Alice's hands firmly. Her touch must have been enough to jolt Alice out of her petrified stupor that she had fallen into because the brunette finally looked up at her. While the fear was clearly still there, Lily felt an enormous sigh of relief when recognition sparked in Alice's eyes. She quickly started to pull both of her friends toward the door, one hand clasped firmly on each of the girl's arms.

Lily had been intending to escape Trelawney's house without so much as another word, but the old lady stepped in front of them, her eyes fixed on Lily's.

"My dear, listen to your heart. You have great courage, and your son will need it before the end. Never back down in the face of fear, and you will prevail. Remember: listen to your heart, Lily."

This time, Trelawney's gaze was filled with nothing but earnestness. She tried to reach her hand out to place it against Lily's cheek, but her adrenaline was still going strong, so, pulse racing, Lily quickly dodged Trelawney's withered fingers and raced towards the door, dragging both Alice and Mary along with her.


Note: I added Mary to this because (although I moved Slughorn's Christmas Party) I still really liked this scene, and I needed a reason to keep it here. Since my version of Mary Macdonald is really into stuff like Divination, she just fit with this.